Landscape pattern optimization strategy of coastal mountainside greenway from a microclimatic comfort view in hot and humid areas

Abstract

The coastal mountainside greenway, with its characteristics of facing the sea and backing to mountains, attracts a large number of residents to conduct various exercises. This study aims to make reasonable landscape pattern optimization strategy from a pedestrian microclimatic comfort view. Firstly, a field survey on two typical test sites on a coastal mountainside greenway in Shenzhen, China is conducted through microclimate monitoring and human thermal comfort questionnaire survey. Landscape patterns varied with slope/flat greenway terrain, tree planting density and greenway size greatly influence the greenway microclimate. Interviewees' subjective responses illustrate the crucial role of wind speed in affecting the overall thermal comfort through accelerating the sweat evaporation of pedestrians in exercise. ENVI-met based simulations are conducted by designing multi-variable landscape pattern cases. Comparison results illustrate that planting more trees on both sides of slope greenway provides more tree shading but blocks cross-section sea breeze, and increasing the spacing distance between trees for flat greenway helps enhance the transverse convection of sea breeze. Additionally, widening the greenway size benefits both slope and flat greenway terrain due to providing effective pathway ventilation corridor. This study contributes to guiding coastal mountainside greenway design from view of microclimate suitability and pedestrians' thermal comfort.